I want to tell you a story this morning about this woman who went out and bought herself a parrot. This woman’s name was Erma, and Erma wanted in the worst way to have a bird that talked. She went to the pet store and selected what was a pretty costly bird. She took the bird home and waited for it to speak. Nothing happened. So she went to the pet shop and told the storekeeper that the bird didn’t talk. “Well,” said the man, “Why don’t you take home this mirror and put it in the bird’s cage? They like to look at themselves and sometimes that helps them talk. Home she went to give the mirror a try.

A few days later she was back at the store again. “The mirror didn’t work,” she announced with her jaw a little tense. “Okay,” said the pet store owner, “Why don’t you take this bell and hang it in the cage? Sometimes they like the sound of the bell and that helps them begin to talk.” So Erma headed home with the bell only to return a few days later. This time her irritation was beginning to show. The edge could be heard in her voice as she said, “The bird still won’t talk.” “Okay, okay,” said the store owner. “Try this little ladder for him. Maybe he just needs the exercise.”

A few days later the woman was back in the shop again. This time she marched right up to the counter and loudly announced that her parrot had died. The clerk looked at her quizzically and said, “Died? Really? What happened? Did you ever get him to talk?” “Yes,” said Erma with real sadness in her voice. “Well,” said the clerk, “What did he say? What were his last words?”

Erma frowned and said, “Hey, don’t they have any food at that pet shop?”

Yes, yes, yes! It’s a terrible story, I know! I still like it, though. And the truth is that I like this story because it kind of mirrors our lives a bit. We spend so much time running around attending to things that we think are important as we often fail to go deeply into the things that really matter.

It’s like having a whole bag of rubber bands and not knowing that their principle quality is that they stretch. Can you imagine holding a rubber band in your hand and being clueless about the fact the thing stretches out like this (stretch rubber band in hand). Yes indeed, rubber bands have what my dictionary refers to as “elasticity.” It is, in other words, the character of a rubber band to be elastic. But if we don’t take that rubber band and wrap it around a pile of envelopes or files, or shoot it mischievously at our little sister, it’s not of much use, is it?

It has that quality of stretching. In our language that suffix or word ending is attached to an adjective, turning it into a noun focusing on the character, essence or substance of the noun.

It occurs to me that you may be thinking that you didn’t come here on this Easter Sunday to get an English grammar lesson, but bear with me as we go back to Erma and her parrot.

Unfortunately, Erma did not have what? “Bird-icity?” In other words, she did not understand the character or essence of having a bird in the house. Thus, she didn’t realize that it wouldn’t live, much less talk, without food.

Think about it. A rubber band, as we have made clear, has elasticity. We know and understand this. Then of course there is electricity, which in my feeble understanding is the movement of electrons in a particular sort of way. We understand the character of these electrons well enough to make use of them in a million different ways. Then we come to simplicity, which points us to the core or essence of being simple. If only we could focus on that in the midst of our over work and over busy lives, we would be healthier and less stressed. Another “icity” word that comes to mind is authenticity, which is the character of being authentic or real. If we could locate and live into authenticity in our lives, a lot of things would be different, don’t you think?

There are a lot of words in the English language that have this “icity” suffix.

Here are just a few.

allergenicity
analyticity
anthropocentricity
apostolicity
aromaticity

Friends, I have been thinking a lot about this as we have walked together into the thicket of Easter celebration. My thinking and my praying have caused me to consider the concept of “resurrecticity.” When it comes to the notion of the resurrection I think that we sometimes resemble Erma in her drive to get that parrot to talk. I don’t need to tell you that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the core of our faith, and yet we so often dance together around the edges of resurrection reality. We don’t, in other words, go deeply into the character and essence of the reality of resurrection. We don’t get “resurrecticity.”

A rubber band stretches.

Electrons flow.

Simplification reduces stress

And authenticity builds trust.

But what of the resurrection?

What is resurrecticity?

Many, of course, focus on the historical event. Thousands of people have tried to find the original shroud and the market in allegedly genuine artifacts is always good. Indeed, the Shroud of Turin to this day draws hordes of tourists to examine the alleged burial shroud of Jesus. Others prefer to think of as a myth, which tends to blunt the power of it all by dismissing it as a mere story. Still others move into the powerful realm of metaphor, living into the truth and poetic power of new life. And then there are some who just shrug it off and refused to deal with it.

No matter how we approach this it feels important to live together into what it would mean to have “resurrecticity” in our lives. I believe that there is a deep and wonderful reason for us to consider the character and substance of the resurrection as we claim this centerpiece of Christian faith.

This morning the cross is empty. We sing “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today.” We fill our Easter baskets. We live out a many layered tradition around this Easter business, going deeply together into the depth and meaning of it all.

Resurrecticity? What is it? What does it mean? I know. There are many people with more clarity and knowledge than me, but I’d like to suggest this much.

Resurrecticity is the act of living into the assumption that new life is not only possible but present at this very moment.

Reurrecticity is the willful and intentional living into a practiced naiveté that assumes the best about people and cuts their well-honed cynicism.

Resurrecticity doesn’t check to see if someone follows the same party line or ideology as you, but instead celebrates differences and builds authentic community on the strength of those differences.

Resurrecticity practices compassion and forgiveness.

Resurrecticity seeks and develops joy. Resurrecticity envisions and risks a better tomorrow.

My hope, dear friends, is that we will walk from this place today invested in going deeper. My prayer, sisters and brothers, is that we will live together into “resurrecticity” and explore the substance, death and character of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means in our lives and in our church.

Let us begin this deepening journey as we stand in awe before an empty cross. Let us be in joyful prayer as we engage together in “resurrecticity.”

Amen.